Lumos
by onefrozenheart
Summary: With Hagrid off to discover his giant blood, and Professor Sprout away on family emergency, Dumbledore invites back Newt Scamander to Hogwarts, to temporarily take over the head of Hufflepuff house, and the teacher of Care of Magical Creatures; What happens when Olivia Tonks unintentionally worms into his affections? set Order of the Phoenix. Scamander x OC Teacher x Student.
1. Confidential Affiliations

**Lumos**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything you recognise.**

 **Chapter One: Confidential Affiliations**

"It smells musky Tonks," I muttered, placing my suitcase on the dust covered table, "It is in dire need of a clean up."

"Trust me," said my older sister, Nymphadora, "I know."

"As if the order doesn't have nicer places to set up their secret get togethers," I pressed.

"Stop it Liv," replied Nymph, "It's quiet, out of harms way, and under the radar."

"I guess so," I said.

"Nymphadora, Olivia, is that you?" called Molly Weasley.

"Heh, yeah Nymphadora," I smirked.

My sister **hated** being called by her full name; if anyone asked her what her name was, it was just simply Tonks. It was all fun and games, until the two of us were together, as we both naturally responded to Tonks.

"Shut up," she muttered, as Molly Weasley entered the room, embracing both of us, one in each arm, around our shoulders.

"How have you been Mrs Weasley?" I asked, pulling out a chair and slumping down in it.

A pleasant aroma met my nose, Mrs Weaselys' cooking was always amazing, Nymphs' not so much, my own? pitiful. So a delectable meal would be much appreciated.

"Alright my dear," she said, "alright."

I only had a handful of interactions with Mrs Weasley since being initiated into the Order of the Phoenix. The order was a group of witches and wizards who had come together to attempt to figure out what the Dark Lord was doing; as Fudge was in clear denial of the return of him. I was delighted when Dumbledore asked me to join the order, apparently it was due to my refined knowledge, I didn't know what made me so special, although the gesture gave me a sense of achievement either way.

"Well that's good," I said, running a hand through my dark hair, in attempt to flatten it. "Thank you for letting us stay."

"It's not a problem deary," she said, "It's best were all together. I heard about how you have been appointed the female prefect for Hufflepuff, good work."

"Yes, I'm quite excited," I replied.

"So you girls will be bunking together, unless you want to bunk with Charlie that is," said Mrs Weasley.

"Is Charlie here?" I asked, "Speaking of which, where is everyone?"

"Ooo goodness, who knows, Harry, Hermione and Ron were here a second ago, Sirius, Lupin, Moody and Arthur are out, Fred and Geor-" replied Mrs Weasley.

CRACK!

The Weasley twins appareated on either side of Mrs Weasely, giving her a fright.

"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU" yelled Mrs Weasley, "Just because you're allowed to use magic, doesn't mean you should be using it for every twist and turn."

"Olive!" The twins cheered in unison, completely ignoring their mother's scolding.

"How are my favourite Weasleys?" I asked, hugging the both of them, an unmovable grin plastered across my face.

"Excellent," said Fred.

"Awesome," replied George.

After being in all my school classes with Fred and George, it was very easy for me to tell them apart. They were probably my closest friends at school, besides Tasmin Applebee, my best friend in my house.

"So as I was saying," began Mrs Weasely, "Olive, you can bunk with Charlie if you like, and Tonks, you can be with Ginny and Hermione. Charlie is just picking up Newt."

"Newt?" I asked unsurely, my eyebrows furrowing.

"Hes taking over Professor Sprouts and Hargrid's position," said Mrs Weasley in a matter-o-factly fashion.

"Hold up, what am I missing?" I asked.

"No need to worry yourself dear, all will be explained later," said Mrs Weasley. "How about you go up and unpack."

Number twelve Grimmauld Place, in lack of a better word, was uncared for. The carpet had worn thin, and the wallpaper was peeling. The chandelier hung lowly in the corridor leading to the stairs, enveloped by many years of hard working spiders' webs. I had only visited the place a handful of times before, but the house elf heads mounted on plaques that lined the stairwell still creeped me out. Who thought to themselves, When house elves pass, lets behead them and use them as decoration. Weird Slytherins. Not that I should speak, Nymph and my mother was in Slyhterin, a Black, hence why we knew Sirius.

I reached my room, Tonks was engaged in conversation with Harry and the others, the floor below. It was a small, messy room, with creaking floorboards, and two clumsily iron made bed heads, with off white mattresses and sheets on them.

Grasping my wand, and standing up on the little stool beside the door, I began to swish, flick and mutter spells under my breath. The sheets turned several shades whiter, and the iron into wood. The floorboards, now gleamed, and the reminiscence of spiders webs, and other creatures feces no longer on the premises. What seemed to be old blood stains, spluttering the wall, was now covered in a delicate love-me-lots pink; I'm sure that Charlie wouldn't argue with the feminine hue. The last thing to enchant were the paisley themed curtains; changing them back to their original colour.

The room instantly smelt more fresh, as I pulled open the double doored windows, to allow in some air.

"Mum says you'll be on this side," said Charlie, from behind the door.

"Thank you, your mum is very hospitable, she hasn't changed a bit," said an unrecognizable mans voice.

"Charlie!" I said loudly, letting him know I was in the room, incase he wanted to engage in secret confidential affiliations with this stranger.

"Olive, is that you?" he called, swinging the door open.

"Charlie!" I exclaimed, leaping into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist.

Charlie by far, was my favourite Weasley offspring. I didn't get to see him very often due to his study of dragons in Romania. I think he was quite good looking for a red head, although I agreed with Molly that his piercings and dragon hide attire wasn't particularly to my liking. I thought it was strange that we got along so well, Nymph and he graduated school together, therefore he was five years older then me; but together, we were the dynamic duo, or as Nymph had so rudely anointed our friendship; dumb and dumber.

"This is Newton Scamander," said Charlie, diverting my attention to the man next to him, "He was expelled the same year as Tonks and I graduated, try to keep that under the carpet; he will be your Care of Magical Creatures teacher, and temporarily reliving Sprout as head of Hufflepuff."

Newton Scamander was a few inches taller then Charlie, with reddish brown messy hair, and day old stubble across his gently freckled skin. A slight smile danced across his thin lips, as he held my eye contact for a moment, only to break it seconds later.

"Hello," he said, half waving with his hand.

"Hi there," I said brightly, "It's a pleasure."

"Are you still taking Care of Magical creatures Olive?" asked Charlie, breaking the slight awkward silence.

"Yes," I said, "although I'm failing miserably."

"That's a lie and you know it," said Charlie, poking my side.

"That along with Potions, not my greatest subjects," I said sighing.

"Surely not, you're apart of the order," said Newt unsurely.

"Olive is just being modest," said Charlie, pulling me close to him with his arm around my shoulder. "Come on, mum said dinner will be ready soon."

We walked down to the dining room, Charlie and Newt chattered amungst each other, about their research and different dragons and creatures that they had encountered. I listened on quietly. Although creatures were interestingsih, Transfiguration was my favourite class. The sheer ability to change the molecular structure of an object, to morph it into another; fantastic.

"Ah, there you three are," said Sirius, nodding as we entered the room.

"Dinner smells wonderful Mrs Weasely," as I took my usual seat next to Charlie, Newt sat down in the empty chair across from me.

"Thank you darling, now dig in before it gets cold," she said, bustling around, loading up everyones' plates with delicious goods.

"So for those who don't know Hagrid and Professor Sprout will not be joining us for the commencing of the school year, until further notice," said Charlie, "This is my very good friend, Newt Scamander, who will be the head of the Hufflepuff house, and your Care of Magical Creatures professor."

"What happened to Hagrid?" asked Harry.

"It's a long story," said Sirius, "but I can reassure you that he is perfectly safe."

"Also, there is an order meeting after dinner, Olive, that includes you," said Lupin.

"What?!" exclaimed Ginny. "Why is she a part of the order. She is a student, remember?"

"She had a name Ginny," said Charlie firmly, "and I'm sure that Dumbledore has his reasons to appoint Olivia onto the order."

"Whatever," she huffed.

I placed a hand under the table, onto Charlie's knee, silently thanking him got standing up for me. I caught Newt's eye, he raised an eyebrow; quickly, I moved my hand away, and tinged red, looking down, as though I had done something unspeakable.

"Yeah well then," started Mr Weasley, "about your hearing Harry, it's to be held in front of the whole ministry."

"Is that weird?" asked Harry.

"Eh well, you see the ministry aren't particularly fond of you at the moment," replied Mr Weasley.

"Why does the ministry have anything against me?" asked Harry.

"Tell him, he'll find out soon enough," said Moody from the corner, leaning on his wooden skull stick.

From the dresser, which featured lines and lines of the Black's china, Sirius pulled out the daily prophet. On the front of it was an image of Harry after the Triwizard Tournament, with a heading reading The Boy Who Lies?

"Clearly Fudge's denial hasn't dissolved at all," I said.

I could feel Newt's gaze on me, but I refused to return it, rather continued to concentrate on Sirius.

"Apparently not," added Nymph.

"But Voldermort is back," stressed Harry.

"Don't worry, Dumbledore has been under attack as well," said Lupin, "Fudge has been using his power, including his influence on the Daily Prophet to eliminate any rumours regarding the Dark Lord returning."

"But why?" asked Harry.

"Because Fudge believes that Dumbledore is after his job," said Lupin.

"But that's insane," said Harry.

"That is insane, but Fudge isn't in his right mind Harry, he has been cultured by fear, and fear distorts the sight of things," replied Lupin. "The minister will do almost anything to avoid facing that terrifying truth."

"We believe Voldermort wants to build up his army again," said Sirius, no one in the room dared to move. "Fourteen years ago he had huge numbers at his command, not just witches and wizards, but all different dark creatures, he's been recruiting heavily, and we've attempted to do the same. However, gathering followers isn't the only thing he's interested in, we believe that Voldermort might be after something..."

"Sirius..." said Moody, trying to change the topic of conversation, or at least warn him that he was giving out too much information.

"Something he didn't have last time," continued Sirius.

"He needs to stop talking," I said, soft enough for only Charlie to hear.

"I know," he said.

"Like a weapon or...?" asked Harry.

"Nope! That's enough, he's just a boy," said Charlie. "You say much more, you might as well induct him into the order straight away."

"Good, if Voldermort is raising an army, then I want to fight," said Harry.

"There's a lot of things you don't know Harry," I said.

"And you do?" snapped Ginny, "Just because you're in the order doesn't mean you're any better then any of us."

"Calm down Ginny, or you can go straight to your room!" said Mrs Weasley sternly.

"I know you've been through a lot Harry, but there's so much more out there, for you to learn," I said, "If you want to fight Voldermort, by all means, but at least equipt yourself with the right tools to do so."

"I just feel like we are fish in a barrel, waiting to be shot," said Hermione.

"The order is working on it," said Mrs Weasley. "We are bringing together some of the brightest witches and wizards. Enough on order business, who would like dessert?"

The order meeting was bland, they were arguing on whether to ask the Diggorys' to join, as they were both of magical blood, and very good at what they did.

"How about going undercover?" I asked out of nowhere.

"What do you mean?" asked Moody.

"Well polyjuice potion is too obvious, especially after what happened last year, but Tonks is a metamorphmagus, couldn't we capture a death eater, and put Tonks in instead?" I asked; the room went quiet.

"It's an idea," said Sirius.

"No!" said Lupin, "do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"

"I want to do it," said Nymph.

"No, they'll smell you for a mile away," said Moody, "Good work Tonks on the line of thought though, thats' the angle we should be taking."

"It's late, and we've been recycling the same topics for hours," said Lupin, I think it's time to call it a night.

Only now had I noticed that Charlie had fallen asleep on the table next to me, poor soul.

"What's that levitation charm?" I asked Newt. "Oh wait, I got it."

I flicked my wand, and Charlie was levitating in the air, in a fetal position, still sound asleep. I excused myself from the table, Newt hot on my heels; the ancient grandfather clock had just struck one. Newt flung open my bedroom door, I gently placed Charlie on-top of the quilt.

"Good night Olive," said Newt.

"Night," I said, grasping his upper arm with my hand, standing up on my toes to kiss him on the cheek.

Again, he refused to make eye contact with me, but the half smile he couldn't contain; his eyes lasering the floor as he exited the room.

 **As usual, lots of love;**

 **onefrozenheart**


	2. The Truth Will Out

_**Lumos**_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything you recognise.**

 **Chapter Two: Truth Will Out**

I woke up in the morning, sun seeping through the curtains, delicately tickling my skin. I rolled over, to cease its invasion of my morning snooze; only I couldn't. A pair of strong arms, dusted with red hair, were enveloping the mid of my waist. At some point during the night, Charlie had snuck in to cuddle, or what teenagers referenced these days as _spooning;_ like we always did when we were kids.  
I rolled around to face him, my hand gently running down the side of his face, bringing him out of his slumber. His eyelashes fluttered on his cheeks, revealing his tenerife sea eyes.

"Morning," he croaked.

"Good morning darling," I said, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

Dew drops of sweat had condescended at the shore of his hairline, due to the overshared body heat. He was always so self conscious on how much he sweated, but it didn't really bother me.

"Harry has his trial today," he said, tucking a run away piece of hair behind my ear.

"Whizzing Wizards, I almost forgot!" I exclaimed, "we need to get up."

"Five more minutes," he said, pulling me closer.

"Come on Charlie, don't be annoying," I said, pulling myself up again.

" _Fine_ ," he said, releasing me of his grasp.

"Get out, I need to get dressed," I said, attempting to roll him out of bed.

"It's nothing I haven't see before," he said, poking his tongue out.

Now before you start assuming the worst, no, Charlie and I weren't sexually active, far from it. He was in what muggles call, the _friend zone._ However, being as close as we were, and knowing each other for a number of years, situations had occurred where straps have broken, or someone had forgotten to lock the door.

"You creep," I said, ushering him out.

As we were venturing to the Ministry of Magic, a little more formal attire was necessary. Glancing at the time, I had no time to grace myself with the luxury of bodily hygiene, so a few cleaning spells would have to do.

I pulled on a pair of black slacks, jumping around a little to make them fit properly; I sighed at the floor length mirror. I had absolutely no ass. Next was my black and white collared shirt, followed my an expertly crafted blazer, and a pair of pointy black heels, that provided the whole outfit a somewhat sophisticated feel.

"How long until you're ready? I need to get dressed too you know," said Charlie.

"Calm down cricket, I won't impede on your black parade," I replied, pulling my hair up, "relax, I'm nearly done... See, done!"

"Finally!" he said. "Go make friends with Newt, I'm pretty sure I heard him exit his room a little earlier, so he's probably having breakfast."

"Sure!" I said, a little eagerly. I waltzed out of the room, giving Charlie a wink as I passed; I pulled myself onto the banister, so I could slide down the fights of stairs. As I was wearing pants, friction burn shouldn't be a problem. It was a good idea until I hit the bottom; my thigh collided with the end of the handle, surely leaving a bruise, and I came crashing off it, stopping myself just before a cupboard. Graceful Olive, real graceful, thankfully no one saw. As I rubbed my thigh, I looked up to see Newt, staring at me, one elbow on the table, the other with a spoon in it, in front of him a bowl of cereal and what looked like to be a journal of some sort. He waved sheepishly at me, "Hi."

"Morning," he said, taking a moment to sip his coffee.

"You saw nothing," I said, straightening out my top.

"Nothing about what?" he asked, a smile danced on his thin lips.

"Exactly," I said, grabbing a slice of grain bread. "Everyone else seems to still be asleep so it seems."

"Yes, Harry and Mr Weasley have left already," said Newt.

"What do you mean _already_?" I asked.

"Well you see, Harry's trial was said to be a few hours earlier," said Newt, not making eye contact with me.

"What?" I exclaimed, "We need to get moving then. Thankful right now for apparation. ChaR-LIE!"

"Yes, yes, what is it?" asked Charlie, stumbling down the last couple of steps.

"Newt has just informed me that Harry's trail is a few hours earlier," I said.

"Mr Weasley was muttering something about it Charlie," said Newt.

"That's okay I guess then," said Charlie, "as we can't actually attend trial; we can go to the ministry in an orderly fashion. Olive needs to shop for school things too."

"I'll admit, Diagon Alley a little earlier on is better, before the school rush," I said.

"Surely they aren't going to expel him," said Charlie.

"I don't think so," I replied, "Wouldn't that be a heading for the press; The Boy Who Lived, Now Expelled. Why were you expelled Newt?"

"Endangering human life via beast," he replied, refusing to make eye contact.

What did that even mean?

"Alright then," I said, as he clearly didn't want to talk about it. "Time to go. Charlie, you can do the honors although you're bloody useless at it... I'll do it... I don't want to end up somewhere we can't get back from."

My hand fell into Newt's, I allowed our fingers to fall in between each other; tips gently brushing. His hand was cool, in contrast to Charlie's sweaty warm one. People always say that if you're finger tips are intertwined, it means that you're a couple, in contrast to when you hold hands close handed, it's a platonic friendship. There I was, standing between two exceedingly attractive red heads, one hand opened and the other closed.

With eyes shut, imagined a small little alley way I once passed when I was on the way to the way to the ministry; there wasn't anything particularly interesting about it, cobble stoned street, cocooned with sandstone buildings. I felt the pull from my pelvis, the lurch forward. Between the unknown controlling forces and the truth, I hated apparation, but its usefulness was clear; anywhere, any place with anyone. Apart from certain established force fields that is.

"And that's how it's done," said Charlie.

"We're all in tact it seems," I replied, "You okay Newt?"

"Yes, yes," he said, our hands bouncing apart. He was definitely interesting; woman challenged perhaps?

"We're using the visitors entrance today," said Charlie.

"How exciting," I said, rolling my eyes.

The visitors entrance was a small red phone booth, made to hold _one_ person at a time, not three. I walked in first, my back pressed against the cool glass. Newt was next to follow, his face only inches from mine; Charlie was his typical self and decided to hug us, mumbling something cheerfully about friendship. This created even less space between Newt and I, my body pressed against his, tilting my nose to the side, so they wouldn't touch if I were to suddenly look up. His nervousness was evident, his concentration completely on Charlie. The sudden jolt of the enchanted phone box made me lose my balance and fall into him a little, that's when I felt it, his most secretive appendage, he was turned on! I couldn't help but blush by the thought of it.

The sheer vastness of the Ministry of Magic, never ceased to amaze me; people floo powdering in from different places across the country, tiny little magical paper aeroplanes, whizzing around, as owls deemed to be too messy; the ginormous golden statue at center... and then, the just as large, if not bigger portrait of the wanker himself, Cornelius Fudge.

I couldn't believe how strongly he had be influenced and cultured by fear; with the Ministry not voicing and creating appropriate defenses against _his_ armies, the Wizarding world is due to be doomed. He needs to wake up to the bitter taste of reality, and promptly.

The three of us found a quiet little booth on the same floor as the hearing, to find out the results.

"I see you got the memo," said Mr Weasley, walking towards us.

"I don't understand how they can change it just like that," I said.

"Between you and me," started Mr Weasley in a lowly voice, "lack of appearance allows for all charges to be confirmed."

"Of course Fudge would orchestrate something like that," I said.

The time ticked what seemed to be ridiculously slowly, as we sat in silence. I twiddled my wand between my fingers, appreciating the artistry that Ollivander had placed into it when it was made; a beautifully etched out grip, leaf vines and flowers, followed by fifteen inches of polished ebony, encasing a singular unicorn hair.

the doors finally opened, revealing a frazzled looking Harry.

"So?" said Mr Weasley.

"Charges dropped," said Harry, "Where did Professor Dumbledore go? He left a moment before me."

"We didn't see anyone come out Harry," I said.

"Oh okay," he replied. "He was there though, and Miss Figgs, she was a witness."

"Well that's good," said Charlie, "Dumbledore must of known something."

"This woman got really angry at one point, saying that Dumbledore was suggesting that the ministry planned the attack," said Harry.

"I bet they did," I said, sighing.

"No matter this is a great result," said Mr Weasley, "What do you three have planned for the rest of the afternoon?"

"A little bit of school shopping with little Olive here," replied Charlie.

"Thanks," I said, throwing daggers in his direction.

"Well you better get a move on then, Flourish and Blotts is only opened until half past four," said Mr Weasley.

"We'll get a move on then," said Charlie, "you not need to come if you don't want to Newt, you can go home with dad."

"I'll come, unless you don't want me there," he said, his voice hung.

"No, no of course we want you to come with us," said Charlie, "forgot that dingy, poorly lit book stores are kind of your _thing._ "

"Not all of us want to wrestle drag- Oh," I said.

Just because Charlie specified in dragons, didn't mean that Newt didn't like wrestling them too, as they did umbrella under the _magical beasts_ branch.

"Exactly Olive, shush, grown ups are talking," said Charlie.

"Oh bugger off," I said, childishly poking out my tongue. "Let's go."

Flourish and Blotts was possibly my favourite store in Diagon Alley, where the shelves are always stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather, books the size of postage stamps, covered in silk; books filled in peculiar symbols, others with nothing in them at all.

"What strange and wonderful books," said Newt, kneeling over the cage of _Monster Book of Monsters, "_ I'm certain it's a book I have assigned to one of my classes."

"Probably," I answered, as I crossed my arms against my chest, and learnt against a bookshelf, "I used those in grade three."

"Ah yes," said Newt, stroking the spine of one of them. It instantly became slack in his hands, in comparison to the howling beast it was moments before.

"We didn't have books like these when we were at school hey Newt," said Charlie. His hands were already full of several _dragon_ books, and at the top of the pile I noticed titles that I had in my list to buy, what a champion. I guess we were running out of time. "Time to go!" 

"I have to admit, I'm tried," I said, grabbing my own books of Charlie.

"It hasn't been a particularly long day," said Charlie. "Just draining."

"Agreed," I said.

 **As usual, lots of love;**

 **onefrozenheart**


	3. Nicks and Knacks

_**Lumos**_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything you recognise.**

 **Chapter Three: Nicks and Knacks**

The ride on the Hogwarts Express was always an enjoyable one. It was a chance to catch up with everyone over the summer, and touch base as to what people have done. it was a little saddening that it was my last train ride to Hogwarts, seventh year, the big seven, where my grades would determine my future. Right now, it was a toss up between applying as an Auror, or possibly a summer teaching position, alongside Professor McGonagall, to really master the nicks and knacks of Transfiguration.

"Guess who," said Tasmin Applebee, my best friend; her hands covered my eyes from behind.

"Ya loser!" I shrieked, turning around and hugging her around her slim frame.

One of these days, Tasmin was going to disappear, she was very finely built, and always complaining about how she was _fat._ Her diet consisted of a lot of lettuce. She and I fitted into the _opposites attract_ scheme, as she was fairly tall and lean, as mentioned, and myself quiet short and a little heavier framed; her eyes were and effervescent green, my own, dark brown. Her hair framed her face in a strawberry blonde shade, straight, no matter what the humidity was outside; mine always had the texture of almost black fly away curls.

"I've missed you," she said.

"Feelings are mutual darling, feelings are mutual," I said. "Let's grab a carriage."

"Oi, you two, over here," said Fred, his head appearing from around the corner of a carriage door.

"How has everyone been this summer?" asked Tasmin, sitting between Fred and George, opposite Lee Jordan, who sat next to me.

"Good," said the twins in unison.

"Not bad," added Lee.

"Have you heard about Sprout and Hagrid?" asked Fred.

"What no?" said Tasmin.

" _Fred,_ " I said sternly, "no matter, you'll find out when we get to school anyway."

"What?" she asked.

"Sprout is on emergency leave, and we have a new temporary head of house, and Care of Magical Creatures teacher," I said.

"AND YOU DIDN'T THINK TO OWL ME!" Tasmin yelled.

"Relax geez!" I replied, "I only found out like a week ago."

"Ha, I don't think Nox can fly that far that fast," said Tasmin.

"Nox is on a diet thank you very much," I stated.

"Pllleeaaasseee, he's the fattest owl I've seen," said George.

"Oh, whatever," I replied, rolling my eyes. " _In_ my defense, George and Fred also knew about Newt."

" _Newt_ hey," said Fred winking at me, "I see you're on a first name basis."

"Ooo is he cute?" asked Tasmin.

"Yeah Olive, _is he?_ " added George.

"You guys are assholes," I said, "but yes, he's good looking."

"Olive has a crrusssshhhh~" sung Tasmin.

"Shut up, do not," I snapped.

"It wouldn't happen to be me, would it?" asked Gregory Munslow, appearing form the corridor.

"You wish Greg," I said. "I assume that you too are prefect again this year?"

"Of course!" he said, puffing out his chest, allowing the light to catch the little golden pin with an engraved letter P across it.

"Hell yeah!" I said, bumping fists with him. "Scoot over Lee."

"Did you get the owl about Professor Scamander?" asked Greg.

" _Did you_ Olive?" asked Tasmin.

"You see I've already kinda met him," I said, "he's a family friend of the Weasleys."

"Ah alright," said Greg. "He's taking Sprout's house head position, and Care of Magical Creatures."

"Yeah I know," I said. "Tasmin here is going to be his most prized student."

"I'm planning to stay on top of the class thanks!" said Tasmin, "It's the only class I'm coming first in."

"It's okay, I'm sure Olive will knock you out of the lead with that one," said Fred, "she'll want to impress her crush."

"Shush," I said.

Greg and I assisted the head students in collecting the first years, and showing them to the boats that one once voyaged into the grounds of Hogwarts with; the nostalgia was heart wrenching.

"Doesn't this bring back some memories?" said Greg.

"I used to hate you," I replied, giving my hand to a dark haired girl whose balance was clearly lacking.

"I wasn't too fond of you either," he said, "always bouncing up and down in your chair. Then last year, I was going to ask you to the Yule Ball, but you went with Diggory instead."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," I said.

"Ah well, what can you do?" he said, giving me an ore. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay," I said.

"No really, with everything that happened with Diggory, you know," he asked.

Greg wasn't one to be Mr Serious when it came to conversation, so his stroke of significance took me by surprise.

"It wasn't fair what happened," I said, "but really, I didn't really know Cedric. I was the girl who accompanied him to the ball. I got a lot more attention then I wanted because of it."

"Ah, eh, okay," replied Greg.

"Okay, we're here," I said to the two first years, they looked quite stressed.

"What house are you in?" asked the girl who I helped into the boat.

"Greg and I are both in Hufflepuff," I replied.

"Well my mum said Hufflepuff is for losers," said the boy next to her.

"Do you want to know something funny?" I asked him, not waiting for a reply. "My mum was in Slytherin, and look at that, she had _two_ daughters in Hufflepuff."

"Oh," he said.

"That's exactly what I thought, _oh,_ " I said.

"I hope you'r not scaring off my first years Olivia," said McGonagall.

"Of course not Professor," I said smiling, "simply highlighting that Slytherin isn't the only house who should have credit."

"This is true," she replied, "Mr Munslow and yourself best be off, I'm sure that the sorting ceremony will commence soon."

"Thank you Professor," said Greg.

"Lets go," I said.

The sorting ceremony, unlike wine, didn't get better with age; it was just as long and tedious as usual. The usual mishaps happened on a yearly basis; students tripping over, the hat taking a little too long to decide, which caused an awkward mutter to ripple between the onlookers, and _every_ year, some poor sod had his pants jynxed down.

"Good evening children," began Professor Dumbledore, "I hope you had an exceedingly delightful summer. Now before we begin, we have a few changes in staff this year. Firstly, I'd like to introduce back Professor Newton Scamander, who will be temporarily reliving Professor Sprout as head of Hufflepuff house, and whilst Professor Hagrid is on temporary leave, he will also be the new Care of Magical Creatures professor. I am sure that the prefects of the Hufflepuff house will make you feel most welcome Professor Scamander."

"I'm sure that Olive will," said Greg, from across the table.

"More then make _welcome,_ " whispered Tasmin, elbowing me in the ribs. "I'm suuuureee. You're right, he is cute."

"We also welcome back Professor Herbert Beery, who has come out of retirement to teach Herbology. We also wish welcome to our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher... Professor Dolores Umbridge. I'm sure you'll all join me in wishing the professor good luck. Now as usual, our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has asked me to remind you..." said Dumbledore.

"Olive... Olive!" said a voice from behind me.

"What?!" I snapped, it was Harry.

"She was at my hearing," he whispered. "She works for Fudge."

"Thank you, headmaster, for those kind words of welcome. And how lovely to see all your bright... happy faces smiling up at me. I'm sure we're all going to be very good friends," said the woman in pink, now known as Dolores Umbridge.

"That's likely," said Tasmin next to me, rolling her eyes.

"The Ministry of Magic has always considered... the _education_ of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. Although each headmaster... has brought something _new_ to this _historic_ school... progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged. Let us _preserve_ what must be _**preserved**_... _perfect_ what can be _**perfected**_... and _**prune**_ practices that _ought_ to be prohibited," she said.

"Thank you, Professor Umbridge," said Professor Dumbledore. "That was really most illuminating."

" _Illuminating?_ " said Tasmin. "What a load o say."

"Agreed," said Greg.

"Magic is forbidden in the corridors," continued Professor Dumbeldore.

"Olive, what does this mean?" asked Harry, I turned around again to look at him.

"It means that the ministry is interfering with Hogwarts," I stated.

"What an absolute twat," said Tasmin.

"Tell me about it," I replied, "Harry said that she was at his hearing."

"Does that mean what I think it means?" she asked.

"Yup, Fudge is getting a foot through the door at Hogwarts, and that is a scary thought," I said.

I listened in, whilst Tasmin and Gerg chatted to Heidi, Malcolm, Herbert and Maxine, amongst others in our house. I wasn't much for small talk unless I felt that I had something to say with some actual substance.

At last last, it was time to head off to our dormitories. I was glad that Greg was the male prefect again this year as it was something I was quite familiar with. Head students, rumor had it, received a whole secret dormitory to themselves; prefects, as we were one step down in the authoritative ladder, had our own sleeping arrangements, stemming from our common room. Greg and I were both quite clean, so having a small shared fireplace, and two separate rooms on either side of it, was never an issue.

"Professor Scamander! Over here," called Greg, beckoning him towards us, as students started to file out, back to their dorms. "I'm Greg Professor, Gregory Munslow, and this is Olivia Tonks."

"We have been antiquated previously but I do appreciate the gesture Mr Munslow," said Newt. "I would like to address the house as a whole, and introduce myself on a more intimate level, so don't mind me, I'm going to the common room as well."

"Not a problem," I said, giving him my most wide grin.

"Dean, Seamus, good holiday?" I recognised Harry's voice a few people in front of us.

"All right, better then Seamus', anyway," replied the boy named Dean.

"Why?" asked Harry.

"Me mum didn't want me to come back this year," replied who I amused to be Seamus.

"Why not?" asked Harry again.

"Let me see. Because of you. The Daily Prophet's been saying a lot of things about you and Dumbledore," replied Seamus.

"What and your mum believes them?" asked Harry disbelievingly.

"Nobody was there the night Cedric died," said Seamus.

"Because Cedric Diggory dropped dead on his own accord, got it," I said loudly.

"Who do you think you are? You're as bad as _him,_ " said Seamus.

"Prefect for Hufflepuff, so that is twenty points off Gryffindor for attitude, _Seamus_ is it?" I asked.

"I guess you should go read the Prophet, then, like your stupid mother," said Harry.

"Stop it Potter," I said.

"Don't talk about my mother," said Seamus.

" I'll have a go at anyone that calls me a liar," said Harry.

"This is absolute bullocks, the two of you cut it out unless you want to be seeing Professor McGongall for detention _tonight_ ," said Greg.

I was glad he backed me in this; authoritativeness and discipline didn't seem to really be Newt's thing. It was crazy to think that I was in year two, when Nymph and Charlie were graduating, and Newt expelled.

"Thanks," said Newt quietly, when the crowd had died down.

"Don't mention it Professor, Greg _loves_ having power," I replied. "Goes to his head."

"Does not," replied Greg.

We reached our common room; things hadn't seemed to have changed over the break. the walls were the same canary yellow, with ebony coloured drapes. The wooden floor had the same carpet, with couches and arm chairs to match. The fire crackled delicately in the corner, casting a warm glow over the room. The crest sat in all its glory, above the pit.

"How does one round them up?" asked Newt.

"OI HUFFLEPUFFS HOUSE MEETING NOW!" I bellowed, wand to my throat, amplifying my voice; I moved it away. "Like that."

"As you all know, this is Professor Scamander," said Greg, as our house began to congregate. "He is temporarily the head of house, and I expect you to treat him with the same respect as you do Professor Sprout."

"You mean none," one student said.

"Stop it Leanne," I said.

"How old are you Professor," asked another.

"A fair few years older then you," replied Newt.

"Seriously, stop, this isn't twenty questions with Hufflepuffs new play thing" said Greg; I didn't know whether Newt was going to be pleased or offended that Greg has addressed him as play thing. "Professor Scamander just wanted to introduce himself to us as a house."

"Thank you Mr Munslow," said Newt, "I am Newton Scamander, I finished Hogwarts five years ago, and I too was in Hufflepuff. Please don't think that I'm trying to replace Professor Sprout; I'm not, I too was taught by her, and everything I know in the realm of Herbology is thanks to her. My office is on the third floor, on the left hand side, apparently, and if any of you wish to speak to me about anything, I will try to keep the door, and my ears open, as best as possible."

 **As usual, lots of love;**

 **onefrozenheart**


End file.
